Ascendance by Sadhna Shanker

Ascendance is set in a distant future on Elone. A planet that is inhabited by two competing, antagonistic species: men and women. Separated by a fence, each side lives in a world of perpetuity, where substitutions and replacements have made immortality a near reality. A death on the women’s side makes the fault line reappear, and the existing equilibrium between men and women begins to crumble. If a clash happens, how long would it last? What would remain? Who? How many? Were they heading for a time like the last days on Earth? As each side regroups along the Fence, Maya, a woman’s consciousness from twenty third century Earth, reveals the past intertwined existence of men and women. Would knowledge of their shared past change the course of the future? Delving into ideas of gender, immortality and consequent new social constructs, ‘Ascendance’ is set in a world that represents a possible, but not a dystopian future.

About the author

Sadhna Shanker is an Indian author, blogger and civil servant. This is her fifth book, and second fiction work after “Never a Disconnect’ in 2010. She has written for the International Herald Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu, Indian Express, Huffington Post and The Wire. A PhD in Economics, she is a passionate wordsmith and has an avid interest in books, movies and theatre. She lives in New Delhi and is in the Indian Revenue Service. She blogs at http://zindagitalkies.wordpress.com.